Thermal Equilibrium
by DownToTheSea
Summary: A Sanctuary mission gone wrong leaves Helen and Nikola stuck in a small hotel room during a snow storm.


**A/N: For the prompt - "chocolate" and "in the snow." Someday I'll get back to writing things that aren't snuggling for warmth XD**

* * *

"Oh dear." Nikola didn't sound at all displeased. "One bed. Why, whatever shall we do?"

Helen grimaced, not in the mood for his typical antics, and limped into their hotel room. It was no Vienna, but it wasn't that bad, and the bed looked deliciously soft and warm and inviting…

"I'll sleep on the chair," she said shortly.

She could hear him exhale, annoyed. "Helen, come on. Don't be ridiculous. The thing's giant, there's plenty of room for both of us even if we don't cuddle for warmth. Which we could..." he tacked on hopefully.

Helen tossed her bag on the floor and turned to him with a glare. "We are not cuddling for warmth."

Nikola took one look at her and raised his hands with a defeated expression. "Ok, ok, but at least sleep in the bed, alright? I mean, you're the one who spent most of the day in an ice cavern, not me."

This was a slight exaggeration, but not up to Nikola's usual standards. Helen and her team had been investigating the possibility of a Magoi they suspected might be in the area, when some kind of giant rock-dwelling worm had brought a cavern crashing down on them.

They'd been stuck there for hours until Nikola and Bigfoot arrived, after receiving the call that Helen had just managed to send out before her phone signal died. Since there was a storm on the horizon, Helen ordered that they get back to shelter as soon as possible, so they made their way to the nearest hotel as quickly as possible.

On their way there, the storm had kicked up and was now in full force. When Helen looked out the window, all she saw was a blur of white. She shivered.

As a matter of fact, Nikola was right. She felt exhausted and rather miserable after six hours in that freezing cavern. The bed would have been delightful. But she wasn't going to let him know that. The only reason they were even stuck in this room together was that there were only three available, and Will, Henry, Bigfoot, and Kate had all flatly refused to share with him.

"Helen, please. I promise to behave myself, if that makes you feel better."

It didn't. Helen wasn't at all worried about Nikola's behavior in such a situation. Not even after how worried he had been about her earlier that day. When Nikola arrived, everyone except Henry, who seemed to be more resistant to the cold than anyone else, had been nearly asleep, and it had taken a minute to rouse them.

Helen had been dimly aware that Nikola was hovering over her, his hands fluttering and his voice snappish with fear when he spoke to Henry and Bigfoot. He had insisted on carrying her out himself, even though his now very ordinary strength wouldn't have been nearly enough for the task. He had actually attempted to lift her up in his arms, staggering, before she had woken up completely and demanded to know what the hell he thought he was doing.

But after that, he had retreated to a more normal distance and resumed banter as always. No, Helen was worried about her own behavior. She was quite aware that she had a habit of hugging things in her sleep, and she knew from experience that Nikola was no exception.

She still hadn't said anything, and Nikola was starting to look worried again. "Ok, I'll sleep on the chair myself. Or the floor, if that makes you happy."

"I'm not forcing you to sleep on the floor, Nikola," Helen said, sighing.

He flitted over to her side and touched the icy skin on the back of her hand. "God, you're frozen. Alright, come on, into bed with you."

"Excuse me?" Helen found herself being herded towards the bed by a particularly annoying ex-vampire.

"I wonder if I could ring up the front desk for more blankets," Nikola mused. "Or some hot chocolate. Ah, hot tea! That's even better."

"I doubt you're going to find that here. Nikola, you needn't - "

But he had already propelled her to the bed and maneuvered her onto it. Kneeling next to her, he started undoing her boot laces before she could protest.

"Just doing my duty as a good little Sanctuary minion," he said smoothly. "Don't worry, my dear, I'll be done in a minute. My, my, you do like your high boots, don't you…" He slid one off and started on the other.

"Of course, this would really be more effective if you got completely undressed." He gave her a hopeful look.

"Absolutely not."

"Fine. Well, I'll do what I can."

Helen had been about to argue further when his fingers brushed her bare foot and she had to stifle a moan. He was so warm .

Nikola grinned. "Like that? Well…" He drew off her other boot and took her foot and ankle in both hands, kneading her frigid skin in his very, very warm fingers. "How about that?"

A soft sigh slipped out of her, and she wiggled her foot in Nikola's hands.

He had the audacity to look smug. "I thought so. Now, after I do your other foot and your hands you're free to kick me onto the floor if you want, but I do offer my services for the full night. You know, just in case you're interested."

"Nikola Tesla, human hot water bottle?"

He flinched slightly at "human" but recovered quickly, grinning at her. "Well, one of us has to get something out of my fall from glory."

Helen had never thought he was too cold before. In fact, she had always found Nikola's mild warmth quite comfortable, either on a cold winter night or a warm summer morning. And she would have exchanged all the warm foot rubs in the world for the assurance of more years with him. But she carefully kept all of this hidden.

The way he was stroking her ankle, heat seeping into her, was something close to heavenly. It was so comfortable that Helen was now rather loathe to keep herself separated from him tonight. "If I were to consider hiring you for the night, what would your bill look like?"

His eyes widened slightly. Apparently, he hadn't really thought she would let him sleep with her.

"W- Well," he stammered, "I try to make my rates reasonable, you know. The pleasure of waking up next to you should more than suffice."

Helen narrowed her eyes, a smirk playing around her mouth. "And if I were feeling generous?"

Nikola swallowed. "A kiss?" he said rather hoarsely, before looking back down at her feet with scarlet cheeks. Nikola had always been a study in contradictions, but she couldn't help being amused that he had asked her straight-faced to strip five minutes ago, and was now blushing like a lovestruck teenager at the mere mention of a single kiss.

"Very well. You may have half of your payment after you finish."

To his credit, Nikola didn't rush as much as she thought he would. He took great care over her hands, clasping and massaging them until they were quite warm. Then he looked up at her with an expectant smile.

Her lips twitching, Helen pulled him in by the hands and kissed him. It was only a very short, light kiss, but Nikola's hands tightened on hers and he made little sighing noises in the back of his throat.

When they pulled apart, his eyelids fluttered open, and he spent a few seconds gazing at her thoughtfully. Helen was expecting him to say something flirtatious, but what he said was, "Hold on a minute." Then he got up and left, slipping out into the hallway without any noise.

Helen blinked, feeling rather offended. That wasn't typically his reaction to being kissed by her, to say the least.

It took him almost fifteen minutes to come back, and by that time Helen had changed clothes and was wrapped up in blankets. When he reappeared, he held a steaming mug of something in his hand.

"I couldn't find the tea," he said, handing it to her. It was hot chocolate, and it warmed her hands, which had gotten chilled again since he'd left.

"Well, thank you," she said, not without some sarcasm. "You picked an interesting time to go foraging around for drinks."

"Your lips were cold," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Why, did you want to kiss me some more?" He smirked.

"Of course not. Now get in bed," Helen said rather briskly, patting the pillow next to her. "We had a deal."

"Which I would never go back on, my dear." Nikola sat down next to her, kicking his shoes off and shrugging out of his jacket before beginning to unbutton his waistcoat.

"I doubt you'll warm me much more effectively if you take your clothes off and I don't."

"Relax, Helen, this is as much of a show as you're getting tonight," he said, folding his waistcoat neatly and setting it on the foot of the bed. "Your incompetent sidekicks might be bursting in for any number of self-made emergencies tonight, and I'd hate to compromise your reputation." This was said with a glint in his eyes that implied otherwise.

He slid under the covers as Helen turned out the light. "Alright, come here."

In his arms and in comfortable darkness, quickly warming up with his heartbeat and breathing a steady rhythm in her ears, Helen allowed herself a moment to be grateful for the lack of hotel space.

"What do you think, Helen?" Nikola said sleepily against her hair. "Shall we order in room service tomorrow morning?"

"I don't think they have room service here, Nikola."

"Then I could serve you breakfast in bed."

"I'm sure you could."

"How flattering."

Helen opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a loud thumping on the wall right next to her.

"I can hear you guys bantering from in here!" Kate complained through the wall. "Would you mind keeping it down? Some of us are trying to sleep…" A loud grunt of agreement from Bigfoot followed this.

Pulling back slightly, Helen and Nikola looked at each other for a moment before snorting in unison.

"Apologies, Kate," Helen called. "We'll try to be quieter."

"Might not be easy though, since I'm about to bring Helen to stunning new heights of pleasure," Nikola added helpfully.

Helen rolled her eyes. "I thought you didn't want to compromise my reputation."

"Well, I never said – "

"You're still bantering!"

"Sorry," Helen and Nikola said together.

"It's automatic," Nikola added in a mutter.

"They have a point, however," Helen said. "It's time we were all asleep."

Nikola sighed. "Spoilsport." But he resumed his former position curled against her and closed his eyes. Helen wasn't sure if he fell asleep right after that, because as soon as she followed his example, she remembered no more.

At least until the next morning, when Kate and Bigfoot had to tell them to quiet down again.


End file.
